


Tony Stark: AI

by A_Reflective_Projection



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Because he's Tony Fucking Stark and when would a little thing like death ever stop him?, F/M, Hopeful Ending, My First MCU Fic, Now it's just made of lines of code, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark makes an AI of himself, We all deserved, Who doesn't post at midnight?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-15 02:14:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19286026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Reflective_Projection/pseuds/A_Reflective_Projection
Summary: Tony Stark's final goodbye goes a little differently than before. There’s still so much to do and a world to protect. Why would a little something like death keep him from keeping his people safe? Besides, he’s never been one for goodbyes.OrHe’s TonyFuckingStark and of course he made an AI of himself.





	Tony Stark: AI

**Author's Note:**

> The start of this story, before the hologram turns off, is taken directly from Tony Stark’s final speech in Endgame.
> 
> Hope you enjoy! :)

“Everybody wants a happy ending, right? But it doesn’t always roll that way. Maybe this time…

I’m hoping that if you play this back, it’s in celebration. I hope families are reunited, I hope we get it back, and something like a normal version of this world has been restored. If there ever was such a thing. 

God, what a world... Universe, now. If you told me ten years ago that we weren’t alone, let alone, you know, to this extent, I wouldn't have been surprised. But, come on... Who knew? Those epic forces of light and dark that have come into play... and for better or worse, that’s the reality that Morgan’s gonna have to find a way to grow up in. 

So I thought I better record a little greeting, in case of an untimely death... on my part. I mean, not that death at any time isn’t untimely-- but this time travel thing that we’re gonna try and pull off tomorrow, it’s got me scratching my head about this and thinking of the survivability of this thing... 

But then again, that’s a hero’s gig. Part of the journey is the end…

What am I even doing this for? Everything’s gonna work out- exactly- the way- it’s supposed to. 

I love you 3,000.” 

The hologram flickers and goes out. There’s a tense moment in the room as everyone lets out a breath. Heavy hearts soothed just a little by his lasting smile, but not enough to make the hurt go away. Just as a couple of people start to look around, deciding whether or not to get up and give his closest friends and family some space, the light flickers back on. 

“Wait--- just a second,” he exclaims. And Tony’s standing right there again, in the same black shirt as before. But where before he had a sincere, serene, even melancholy look about him, now there’s something slightly manic in his eyes. “Uhh,” he fumbles, as if he can see everyone in the room abruptly turning back to look at him. “So, um well, I had a bit of a debate with myself.” And then there’s that sheepish rueful expression that Pepper and Rhodey have seen far to many times. It makes Pepper’s heart ache and Rhodey’s freeze in anticipation. Because it’s the same expression he got when he’s done something- possibly stupid-- that he’s not sure if they’ll agree with but is also completely brilliant and 100% him.

“I- I wasn’t sure- well I’m still not sure. I don’t really know how you’ll all react to this. Standard Protocol has it that this should be activated a year after my death. To- I don’t know, give you time or something to process. It seemed like the right thing to do. But this mission. Success or otherwise, god I hope you’re all ok. It’s- uh- a little bit of an extraneous circumstance. I mean ideally half the world has suddenly just re-appeared and we can’t pretend that that’s not going to cause any problems. I mean, it’s been five years. Do they all still have homes, families, jobs to come back to? I know I retired, started a family, and I loved it, love it. I love you so, so much. 

But that was also the only thing I could do. Just- move on. Everyone was hurting, we- we lost so bad. Everyone, God Peter, and I just- I couldn't- there was nothing left to give. I grabbed at the miracle that was Pep and I both still being alive and ran with it because there was nothing to be done. The world didn’t need me and even if it did I wasn’t in any shape to help. 

But this time. If, if we get it all back. I can help. With inventions, and politics, and economies. Put SI on the map bigger than before, with all the things I’ve been made over these years but never implemented. Because it’s amazing and good that everyone is back but what good is it if we leave them to fend for themselves? Famine, crime. Desperate people do desperate things and everyone’s going to be clinging so hard to those they lost if we don’t give them to resources to care for each other. Well, it’s not going to be a victory for very long. The world can’t take this many people again, not with the way so many things have crumbled. And I can help with that. All of that. I can do so much good. 

Well, not me, not exactly but him. And, and that’s why a year is just,” He shrugs a little helplessly. “It doesn’t seem fair to make people wait when I can help, he can help, I mean. And and maybe it’s not fair to you, to just ask you to accept him because I know you’re all hurting and you love me. But-but you’re hurting because you love me. And I don’t want to case more pain so just- my creations have always been the best parts of me.” And his eyes are so expressive, pleading them to understand something that has less to do with logic and everything to do with emotions. 

“He’s not replacing me, we’re still different. I’m, I’m still gone but if you loved me,” he says with a challenge in his eyes. “Then you should love him too, because he is me in a lot of ways, probably in more ways then he’s not. So please trust me and give him a chance, give us a chance. Let us help the world, let us help you. My last gift, because I love you 3,000, because I can’t stand the thought of leaving you, and with him, in a way, I’m not.” 

He stands up from the crouch he was holding in from of Pepper, her eyes brimming with tears, disbelief and a desperate, desperate hope. Tony stares at her with intense eyes before glancing around the room, a small nervous smirk pulling at his lips. He takes a deep breath, as if steadying himself and when he talks again his voice is clear, full of purpose and conviction. 

“Activate Project Phoenix.” His words reverberate around the room and it feels like the air is humming, the lights flicker as does the hologram as a surge of power runs through them. 

After a couple of seconds the lights come back in full and the projection stabilizes. Tony’s image is hunched, slightly trembling his arms wrapped around himself. He seems to shake himself, slowly straightening. His eyes are wide as he takes in the people around the room all of them staring back at him in confusion, disbelief, cautions hope. 

He quirks a smile, nervous and self-deprecating. “Hi, you’ve reached a new and improved life sized model of Tony Stark. Please ask a question and I’ll do my best to answer.” He has his hands in his pockets now, biting his lip and rocking back on his heels. The grease in his hair and bags under his eyes are gone. His features having a level of polish about them never seen outside of a press conference before. 

His gaze is sheepish and hopeful, but Pepper’s known him long enough to see the fear he’s trying to conceal. The urge to chase that away is what finally gets her to say something. 

“Tony?” The question is soft and vulnerable. His eyes immediately focus on her, only drifting down for a brief second to stare in wonder at Morgan.

“Yeah, Pep?” And he sounds so hopeful, so insecure. As if this whole conversation could make or break his very existence and he has no idea what to do to prevent that. 

She let a laugh that chokes on a sob and he’s crouching in front of her in an instant, holographic hands hovering uselessly about her with the desperate want to touch. “Hey, hey, hey I’m sorry please don’t cry, come on Pep, you know I can’t do emotions. Hasn’t there been enough crying today?”

She shakes her head heavily, hand over her mouth as tears stream down her face and Pepper can’t tell if they’re of grief or joy. 

“Dad?” A quiet voice asks next to him. Having picked up the difference between the recording and whatever he is now. 

“Hey there, sunshine,” he answers in a voice so soft and gentle, full of wonder and awe. 

Morgan bites her lip nervously, “Are you really there?”

Tony flounder for a second, not sure how to answer that, finally settling on. “Yeah-yeah I’m here. For as long as you want me to be, it’s uh it’s a little complicated, grown up things are like that but um yeah…” He up at Rhodey helplessly, looking for support. His best friend has tears streaming down his face and a complicated expression that he can’t read and he doesn't know if that’s because of the camera angle or his processors or if he’d never have been able to read it. 

“Tones, you’re such an idiot.” And the flinch is visible even through the hologram. “But this is exactly the sort of idiotic thing you’d do.” Rhodey shakes his head heaving out a heavy sigh but there’s a smile trying to break out from behind the frown. 

“Yeah?” Tony says tentatively, glancing back at his wife and child. 

“If I could slap you right now, I would,” Pepper states but it’s not her scary CEO voice or her angry “I’ve asked you five times why haven’t you done the dishes yet” voice, it’s the ‘I can’t believe you’ve had Happy carrying around our engagement ring since 2008’ voice. 

He feels something in him shift and settle, maybe it’s his heart inside all the lines of code. “Give me two week and I can get a physical body up and running for you to slap,” Tony says with a grin. And the choked up laugh he gets in response makes everything worth it. 

Rhodey rolls his eyes. “Seems you’ll never be any less insufferable,” he shakes before his head expression becomes serious and Tony tenses again. He knows it’s Pepper and Rhodey that he has to get to to accept him. The others will follow suit. And god, he hopes they will, he doesn’t know how to live without them. They’ve been such a big part of his life for so long, he’s not sure if he’ll be able to run without their help. Just another failure of a project in the serves. 

“What do you remember?” Rhodey asks, no judgment in his voice but not exactly kind either. 

Tony bites his lip eyes going distant, everyone noticing how his brown eyes flick to arch reactor blue. “Last manual data entry April 26, 2019, field mission report record and stored after re-arriving in the present time. Last data entry from: “The Final Battle” live recording. Ends when black box life monitor concludes death and cuts transmission.” He blinks a few times seeming to come back to himself eyes fading back to brown. He shakes his head, “Sorry, um- everything's still processing, my core coding is meant for full assimilation but I’m still a learning program and most of my time has been spent in passive data collection and storage, I’ll need a few weeks to fully…” He trails off noting the tension in the room. 

Gingerly he steps back from Pepper and stand up. With a sigh, he runs a hand through his hair. “Look. I know I’m not, I’m not him, but I was made and have learned to be. I- we, didn’t have any secrets. Honestly the closest he got to a counselor was probably spilling his guts to a piece of programming so it could be as authentic as possible.” He lets out a self-deprecating chuckle. “I have all of his memories, I know all his secrets and thoughts and plans and hopes and dreams, hell, I probably remember more about his life then he did, but I know I’m not him. I- you all, were supposed to have a year to prepare. So you could recover and I could grow and when we met we’d both understand that I’m not him, not exactly but I still am in a lot of ways that count, though I guess his decided waiting was overrated and sprung this on you all right now, at the funeral no less. Not sure if I would have agreed with that choice but hey he’s not the one that has to deal with the repercussions.” 

He looks more nervous with the lack of responses, now wringing his hands together. “I- I can go. If you want. If it’s to hard, I get that. I don’t have to stay here. He just wanted, I mean we just wanted to make it hurt a little less. Which is stupid but hey, that’s me. So if you don’t want me, that’s fine. I haven’t been active long I can just shut down, no harm done-”

“Tones,” Rhodey snaps, cutting off the sickening self-deprecating spiral, that is so close to the things he heard back in college that it hurts. Tony’s eyes snapped up to meet his immediately. “You remember back in college when you made me promise that if anything happened to you I’d look after JARVIS?” 

Tony sucks in a quick breath, even though he doesn’t need to breath. All of his programming built to respond exactly like his body would have. 

“You wanted me to make sure he wasn’t forgotten, if something happened to you. To make sure he was safe and treated right, like the person he was.” He steps forward. “I’ll admit this is a little different and I didn’t see it coming but looking back I really should have.” Rhodey grins, “I know you’re not the original or however you want to label yourselves but I learned to trust that mind of yours to do the impossible a long time ago and to believe in your creations. Sure it’ll take a while to figure out, but we will, together. Because I just lost of best friend once, I’ll be damned if I let this miracle slip away from me. Physical body or not it’s always been your mind that makes you, you.” 

Tony smiles, it’s a tentative fragile little thing but full and real, and makes something in Rhodey’s heart heal. His shoulders relax and for the first time he looks comfortable standing there surrounded by his friends and family. He winks at Rhodey, “You got it honey bear.” Rhodey laugh but there’s something watery about it that everyone decided to politely ignore. 

He looks back over at Pepper who’s smiling, even though there’s still tears running down her cheeks. “You’re eyes are puffy.” Tony says with a grin. “Few tears or you’re long lost husband.”

Pepper reply is exasperated, blunt and endlessly fond. “Tears of joy more like. I hate dating.” 

It startles a laugh out of Tony. Real and almost giddy with happiness. He’s not sure if he’ll ever be able to get this smile off his face. Looking around the room at his family. There and whole and perfect. He feels himself relax. The last of the worry drifting away in the face of the acceptance and hope he sees on their faces. 

It’s not going to be easy. He has no delusions of that. But he’s got the most amazing people in the world supporting him and they’ll get through this. 

Together.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! I haven’t had an idea hit me this strongly since my very first fic. I was just like. Tony Stark? Dead? Are you sure? This is one happens to be my first fic in the MCU and I think I’ll be writing some more in the future. Currently working on a Tony Stark time-travel fix-it fic and writing a full draft of the Sokovia Accords. Wish me luck! 
> 
> If anyone wants to take this idea and make it a multi chapter story please do! I’d love to read that! :)
> 
> Lastly, be sure to leave a comment to feed my soul!


End file.
